The invention relates to a multichamber coating apparatus with a system for the transport of substrates on a car which is open at the top and supported on gliding means. The car is moved from one coating chamber to at least one additional coating chamber separated by a gate running transversely of the direction of movement of the car. The gate includes an upper gate part and a lower gate part disposed at a distance therefrom and forming a slot.
A multichamber coating apparatus of this type for transporting glass slabs is disclosed in British Application Nos. 2,171,119, and 1,604,056, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,274,936, and 4,009,090. Since in the case of flat glass the cross section is very small, it has heretofore been possible largely to disregard the occurrence of gas transfer between two coating chambers. If, however, the individual coating chambers are situated in tandem, and if another coating is to take place in each successive coating chamber, a transfer of gas between the individual coating chambers is inappropriate, because in the case of a gas transfer there will be a reduction in the quality of the different coatings. Accordingly, the invention is addressed to the problem of creating a separation of gases between two chambers.